Families do not choose to live in remote suburbs because they enjoy long commutes on congested highways. They move there so that they can send their children to good public schools, raise them in safe neighborhoods, and live in a house that they can afford. Edward L. Glaeser (“A better tax plan,” Op-ed, May 2) wants to add to their commuting woes by increasing the gas tax and charging them $3 in tolls to go to work.

While high-income Boston residents can afford to live in safe neighborhoods, send their children to private schools, walk to work or take the T, and avoid the ownership and insurance costs of an automobile, middle-class suburban families cannot. The governor’s plan to improve the transportation infrastructure — perhaps without the South Coast rail project — through an increase in the state income tax and a reduction in the sales tax is a fundamentally fairer solution for most Massachusetts residents.

Rank-and-file legislators need to stand up to their timid leadership and do right for their hard-working commuter constituents.